Homeland..doing its job

[marine4003]

Bringing my 28 GW down from Crockers Marine in Wrightsville beach,crusin down the cape fear,i asked my buddy to grab the helm so i can go below and restock my charts,gear ect..after about 20 min. he calls down "Uh..i think you had better come up..quick" pop my head up and what do i see....a Harbor Police boat with a Homeland Security sticker..a 50 cal manned..2 guys in full battle gear bearing down on us full throttle...i look over the bow and see a long port under construction stb'd side,with cables rigged thru concrete dolphins..and a BIG - Restricted sign,oops...before i can ask what the f^#k is going on..the hailer tells us to stand to,and prepare for boarding,man these guys were pissed and serious,after the ID check..registration check..phone calls to NCIC,ect..the polite man holding the M-16,informs us this is a restricted area and we have to leave PRONTO,Well dumbass,asks whats so important over there (where i asked if it wouldn't just be easier to shoot dumbass) we leave..we were followed to the lower ferry dock before they peeled off...What a day...But i will say,Those boys were doing a good job. Its good to be an American,any other country..whoulda just got shot first,and asked questions later...so..i wonder..what are they building?

[Robja]

Sounds like you ventured inot Sunny Point Military ocean terminal waters. They load ships with ammo to go overseas. Those guys mean business if you venture too close. It is well marked so coming down from Crockers you must have gotten out of the river shipping channel. There are seperate bouys that lead from the river to the docks so your guy may have sighted the wrong bouys. I have watched many a ship load up with military equip to head to the desert. When ships come or go from there the Coasties warn boats to stay at least 500 yds away and they guard them going and coming.

[clt_capt]

Been there, done that - If you were near the ADM terminal, then you were by Sunnypoint.

Sunnypoint is the Military's Non-Nuke Ammo Depot on the East coast.

Just after I got my boat, I was sync'ing my autopilot right near there - here come the boys with the flashing blues (Not talking about DeepC) - That was before 9/11 and before the Ammo Ship caught on fire...

[Dads Dream]

Living up here in southern Maine/New Hampshire border, we've got the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard where they repair nuke subs and a whole bunch of other stuff we don't know about.

Also, we're a busy working port with LP tankers that offload up river about 6 miles

I've been reminded twice in 5 yrs how I must stand-down or pass and move out when the LP tankers are being fully escorted on both ends....

No place to be cute....as I remind my guests......bet those guns could shoot.....

[gottaflylee]

Oops, sounds like you went into the wrong channel. They don't take to kindly to that...

[marine4003]

I reminded my dumb-ass friend about LEO ediquite numerous times on the final leg home,he claims the main channel was further away than skirting the channel sbt'd, i asked him what he thought "RESTRICTED" meant..considering the Furuno has a
10" display and "RESTRICTED" is real easy to read,he thought it was a spoilage area....oh well,next time i keep the helm.